Bruins lose to Ottawa, 5-2

Boston, MA - Brad Boyes and Glen Murray each scored a goal, but Ottawa's top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, and Jason Spezza, along with Dominik Hasek made the difference, leading the Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 victory over the Bruins on Thursday night. Hasek turned in a 37 save performance as Boston peppered him with 39 shots. Andrew Raycroft finished the night with 25 saves in his first appearance since suffering a hamstring injury on October 26. Prior to the game, Cam Neely dropped the ceremonial first puck in recognition of his Hall of Fame induction on Monday, November 7.

"I think there was a stretch where we took penalties and a lot of it started where we had puck possession and failed," said Coach Mike Sullivan. "When you fail to execute the right plays, as a result, we were forced to defend and where Ottawa's a good hockey team, they are a great transition team, and if you're not sound in the critical areas of the rink, they take advantage of those types of plays. In the first period we were sound in those critical areas and that's where we had success."

After Dany Heatley scored just 0:27 seconds into the game, the Bruins settled down and took control of the game, outshooting the Senators 17-5 in the period.

5:00 minutes into the first, Colton Orr went toe-to-toe with the Sen's Brian McGrattan in a heavyweight fight to get things going for the Bruins. Orr has yet to lose a fight this year.

"As soon as (Colton) did his job, we just fed off that crowd in the first period," said Joe Thornton. "He's been doing his job all year; he's so fearless. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing and he's doing a great job at it. We fed off that and then the penalties sort of killed us again."

At 9:25, Brad Boyes took a pass from Jiri Slegr and beat Ottawa's Dominik Hasek high glove-side on the power play for his fifth goal of the season, tying the game at 1-1.

In the second period, the Ottawa Senators were able to take control of the game, scoring three goals in a 4:55 span.

First, Bryan Smolinski gathered in a loose puck at the slot and beat Andrew Raycroft at 4:51 to give the Senators a 2-1 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Martin Havlat took a long pass out of the zone from Wade Redden that sent him on a breakaway. Havlat's shot rang off the post, but Peter Shaefer was there for the rebound and the shorthanded goal.

At 9:46, Havlat added another, stealing the puck in the Bruins defensive zone and putting a move on Raycroft for the goal and a 4-1 Ottawa lead.

"We're so close. They scored three goals in 10 minutes," said goalie Andrew Raycroft. "I have to make a save and bail guys out. We need to find a way to keep momentum or change momentum when things are going your way. That starts with me. I have to make a save somewhere."

The Bruins got one back in the second, scoring a shorthanded goal at 15:53 on a goal by Glen Murray. Joe Thornton picked up a loose puck in the corner and threw it in front to Murray who quickly wristed it top corner for his team-leading ninth of the season. The assist extended Thornton's point streak to seven games.

11 seconds into the third period, Dany Heatley scored his second goal of the night to seal the Senators 5-2 victory.

The B's will face off against the New York Islanders on Saturday night at the Nassau Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. (NESN).